That is basically the Edward Bernays method of selling. Create a need. Have someone else espouse the need for that thing. Magically your company has exactly

That is basically the Edward Bernays method of selling. Create a need. Have someone else espouse the need for that thing. Magically your company has exactly what people think they need because of step two. He did this with smoking for women. - Company A wants to sell more cigarettes. - Company A approaches marketing firm B to sell things. - Marketing firm B hires marketing firm C and D talk about how cool it is to smoke for women. Show women smoking in cool ways. Show doctors are cool with it. Show how empowered you are. Very base emotional in-group ideas and feeling good about yourself (not necessarily good for you). Do this until a particular point in time when people seem to be buzzing about it and meme's fly. Social media has made this way easier and faster to do. - Marketing firm B now starts putting brand A in adverts also espousing how they can help you with what firms C and D did. - Profit for company A. It is a shockingly effective way to manipulate people without them even seeing it. As it uses our cognitive biases to manipulate us. You think you can ignore but you will have a tough time of it. Even if someone shows you how it is working it can be tough to get out of it. As you had 3 other people tell you it is ok and several trusted 'news like' sources say it is ok. It is also used in political orgs to good effect too. This method is everywhere.